Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 3 - The Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

Hey there princess!

Our third day at Disney started back in the Magic Kingdom. For breakfast, we made a Starbucks run and did our best to eat a giant Mickey-shaped donut. The parks have seriously stepped up their snack game, no doubt due to the popularity of social media sites, like Instagram. I love not only eating something delicious, but also cute!

I mean - it's bigger than my head!  

While strolling down Main Street, we also had our silhouette cut by one of the fantastic Disney artists. She said that she had been working in the parks for 11 years, and was seriously so talented! I love having the opportunity to talk to the staff at their jobs. They are all so kind and knowledgeable. When I was growing up, my family always had our silhouettes done here in the Magic Kingdom, and I am so pleased to get to start my own little family silhouette collection. 

After making our way around the Magic Kingdom's Adventureland and seeing the Enchanted Tiki Room, we enjoyed these sweet Mickey and Mini Dole Whips. They were the perfect thing to help kick the Florida heat, and were completely delicious. 

Once the heat of the afternoon wore off, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. 

Of course, we had to ride Rock n' Rollercoaster, which was incredibly fun. Our trip took place two weeks before the opening of Galaxy's Edge, so we weren't able to peek at any of the new Star Wars stuff. All the same, we had tons of fun in Toy Story land, and looking at all of the other fun Hollywood-themed things. 

Making dining reservations at The Brown Derby was one of those things that I knew I had to do as soon as my 180 day window opened up. I celebrated a birthday here when I was younger, and it never really lost that magical, classic Hollywood feeling. Sitting in their dining room, I can almost imagine I am Bette Davis from All About Eve. 

When planning for this experience, I made sure that our timing would coincide with the Fantastic firework show so that we could to and be seated once our meal was finished. To be honest, once we finished our grapefruit cake, we were both too exhausted to do anything else, so we chose to go back to our room and turn in early rather than seeing the show.

Planning is important, but so is flexibility. I want to have fun while I'm on vacation, and if I am so exhausted that I can't keep my eyes open, then I'm not having fun. 

By turning in early on this night, we were able to catch up on some much needed rest, and were more energized for the rest of the week. 

What do you do when you're tired on vacation? Do you find it difficult to say 'no' to fun or having to change your plans?

Sparkle on!

Our Disney World Honeymoon - Day 2 - EPCOT

Hey there princess!

Our second day at Disney World started in the absolute most perfect way, with Mickey Waffles! I had been dreaming of these bad boys for a long time, and it was so fun to finally get to eat some. Things have certainly changed since the last time I was at Caribbean Beach Resort (probably about 15 years ago) and I loved all of the renovations that they have done! Most of all, I love that the reports still give you a refillable mug at check-in, because that bad boy got used a lot!

Once our tummies were full, we donned our sunscreen and hopped on the bus to head to Epcot. This is Niles' first ever time going to Disney World (he is a California boy and grew up going to Disneyland), and being in Epcot was such a fun and new experience to share with him. Since it was the middle of August, the most important things to us were keeping cool! We dressed in lightweight clothes, brought hats (mine with the new monogram) and wore tons of sunscreen. I also found some neat cooling packs off of Amazon (click here to see) and I threw them in my purse to help us not get overheated.

One of those special Epcot-only attractions is The Land, which is one of my all-time favorites. Even just the smell is something just incredibly special that stays in my memory. I can almost feel the breeze coming off of the water now while I type this. 

When planning our honeymoon there were some very specific things on my "must do" list, particularly involving food. One of my favorite places to eat in Epcot is the Garden Grill, which sits directly above The Land attraction. Garden Grill checks off so many boxes - it is a character dining experience, it sits directly above one of my favorite attractions, and you can look out over the balcony to see people passing by, and the food is phenomenal.

When I say the food is good, the food is GOOD! It is family style, so there is a little bit of everything and you don't have to worry about a menu. Dessert is included, and Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale stop by periodically to check on you and take pictures. I am seriously still thinking about how amazing that turkey is! For me - I want to have at least one opportunity to have a character interaction on my trip, but I don't want to wait in line or have to use a FastPass. Character Dining is the perfect solution to this, and Garden Grill gives you both great food and personal interaction without too high of a price tag. 

Of course, no trip to Epcot is complete without riding Spaceship Earth. We actually ended up riding it three times since it is being closed for changes to the story in 2020 - 2021. Who knows what it will be like when we return?! 

Of course, we also had to get some cute pictures in front of "the ball" to commemorate the trip. If you look closely, you can see that I have changed clothes. About halfway through the day I was totally exhausted, and decided to beat the head by taking a nap in our room. During that break, I also made a stop at the hotel gift shop and bought a cute little nap time sweatshirt!

Before calling it a night, we made a quick stop at the Mexico pavilion, and were totally blown away by the incredibly Coco inspired Dia de los Muertos decor. This is my absolute favorite pavilion, and always spend a substantial amount of my time in Epcot exploring this slice of fun! What is your favorite EPCOT pavilion? 

Tune in tomorrow for more fun adventures!

Sparkle on!